Someone You
by SilverLunarStar
Summary: One-Shot! Almost losing Rose again gets to be too much for the Doctor. He finally tells her what he was going to say outside of the chippy.


**Someone You…**

_By: SilverLunarStar_

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><p><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> _Yeah, I don't own them…_

**Author's Note:** _Dedicated to xsilverxlightx on her birthday! This tidbit of fluff and angst (more fluff, I promise) is just for you, dear. I hope you have a fantastic day!_

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><p>He didn't think he'd ever truly be able to pinpoint exactly what about that day was the trigger that led to his triumph (or downfall, depending on how one looked at it). After all, it'd been a day like any other; one where all they had been trying to do was have a good time. Contraire to most beliefs, he and Rose Tyler did not go looking for trouble. Sure, there were times he landed somewhere and immediately realised that something was not right, but he swore that nine times out of ten he tried to avoid it. Well, more like eight… Okay, so it was really around .49999% of the time, but running from danger was half the fun! Except when it involved her running <em>into<em> trouble **without** him.

The problem was there were two variables which made it statistically impossible to predict their adventures: luck and their jeopardy friendly card. Half the time they split up, they would get more done had they stuck together and nothing ever happened to either one of them, while the other half seemed evenly cut in which one would save the other. While today's events could easily be categorised into one of the two quarters, it was actually squeezed into the small percentage in which one was almost too late to save the other. The Doctor did not like these odds. Their life was too dangerous to live one day at a time. He had all the time in the world. She didn't. It was time to even the odds a little.

The problem now was that he didn't quite know how to do it.

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><p>Rose was worried about the Doctor. He'd come into her room in the middle of the night, TARDIS time, and had asked to talk with her. She didn't like the look on his face; it reminded her of the day she found out she wasn't the only one to travel with the Doctor. Of course, when she thought about it later, it just made her feel silly and childish. He was over nine hundred years old; of course he'd met and travelled with others! She just wouldn't have thought it when she first met him. He'd played it so close to the chest half the time; it'd been hard to break through his barriers. Of course, that was before the War… It was a different matter altogether. He still left them, though. What would she do if he decided to do the same to her, one day? Maybe not today or tomorrow, but someday he would, no matter what he said. If words unspoken were anything to go by, he couldn't tolerate to see her wither and die because he…<p>

"Doctor, what's wrong?" she finally broke the silence before her thoughts could decline further.

"How much do you remember of the game station?" he asked suddenly.

The blonde looked at him, baffled. Why this all of a sudden? "You mean after you-?"

"Yes," he interrupted. "After I sent you away and you came back."

This was the number one reason why she didn't half believe him when he told her he wouldn't leave her behind. He'd done it once before, to keep her safe; she knew he'd do it again just as she knew if he ever did, she'd come back. Snapping out of her thoughts, she admitted, "Not much more than what I mentioned before, light and singing, lots of them. Now I know it came from the TARDIS, but I still don't understand what happened."

"How do you know it was the TARDIS?" That was curious.

"Whenever we're in the vortex and we're just lounging around, or when I'm asleep, I can sort of hear her singing. And the light, well, I remember looking at the console like Blon did… That's the last thing I remember before waking up."

"You looked into her heart, just like Blon did." He was directing his gaze at her pink bedspread.

"What?" She was shocked, sure she had misunderstood him. She remembered the big lecture she and Jack had received on their way to Raxacoricofallapatorius on how they were to never, ever even try to do what happened. She'd felt it was moot point because the only reason why the TARDIS had even opened up in the first place was because of the rift.

"You looked into her heart, you brought her back to me, and you got rid of every Dalek. I couldn't use the delta wave, Rose." He'd never admitted to her that he'd been about to let the future die and the Daleks live. "You didn't just look into her heart, though. You had the entire vortex burning through you. You were dying." He finally looked up at her, the pain evident and she couldn't help but gasp.

"I almost thought I was too late…" He scoffed. "All those close calls. Cassandra, I was afraid she'd suppress you to death. When the lupine wavelength haemovariform almost slaughtered you…if I hadn't looked back…my hearts just about choked me. Orif I had been just a second too late when you were chained just outside of its cage…. I've wanted to tell you so many times, I've lost count, and it's quite hard to lose count when you have a brain as big as mine. I almost did, you know, outside of the chip shop when we met Sarah Jane. I'm sorry I never told you about her, about them, I thought it'd be obvious that I'd had other people on board, what with my age…but I swear none have been like you Rose, none. When I heard Lassar…it was so tempting, Rose, you don't know how tempting it was to take him on his offer, but I knew I couldn't do it, no matter how much of a lure it was, I couldn't. And I knew you'd be disappointed in me if I did-"

"If you had, I wouldn't have left you." She was shocked at how true these words were, but, well, there it was. She knew, or hoped she knew, where he was going with this, and she wanted him to have as much proof as she could give of her feelings for him without outright speaking them before him.

He smiled slightly. "I know, but you would have hated me for it. Maybe not then, but you would have, eventually." He ran a hand over his face and continued before she could deny it. He needed to get everything out before he wimped out, as well. Coward, him, every time, but this needed to be said. He gulped as he got to the part where he'd hurt her the most. "When-when I was in France, for the first time in a long time, I hated the fact that I had to save someone; I hated that I had a duty to save Reinette. I wish there had been another way, but there wasn't Rose, not with the time we had. Ironic, isn't it? I'm a Time Lord and I always seem to run out of it. Time, that is. Rules, so many rules… I refuse to listen to them now. I was always a rule breaker anyway. What's one more?" He shook his head to get back on track and when he noticed Rose was about to say something. "You don't know how happy I was when Reinette showed me the possibility of one last portal. I would have made it back to you on my own, eventually, I swear I would have, but it would have taken…a long time. Afterwards, when we got stuck in that parallel world…for the first time I was truly afraid you were going to leave me, Rose."

"Never Doctor, I-!"

"I know, I know that now." He took her hand in his, finally looking straight into her eyes, baring his very soul. "When I thought I'd lost the TARDIS forever I was afraid I'd lost all I had. Rose, you're lifespan isn't even a fraction of what I've lived, what I may live if I take care not to go through my regenerations- which I'm not looking to do in a hurry!" he added hastily noticing her look. "But I was wrong. The TARDIS is important to me and she'll be with me as long as I live, but that's because we need each other. We're the last of our kind and we've been through so much together. We have too, but you Rose… You know, I never understood why you stayed with me after I took you to see Earth die, but I have never been more grateful. When you decided to 'sign on' even after we accidentally landed in 2006, I had never felt happier. You…" He took a deep breath, the last vestiges of his courage leaving him rapidly. "I was blinded by my panic when I lost the TARDIS, but nothing could have prepared me for today. We've had so many close calls you would think I'd be used to it by now, but I should've known better. When I realised who it was they had brought in, I was so enraged. I couldn't…"

"Doctor, it's okay. It's over now." She squeezed his hand firmly, but gently.

"But for a while it wasn't." He looked down at their intertwined hands before looking at her eyes again, feeling relieved that her lovely face was still there. He knew he was being silly; it was over, like she said, but… "They just left you in the street! Anything could have happened to you! And I wasn't there Rose, I wasn't there!"

So that's what was bothering him. "Doctor, half the time we split up, things turn out better had we not. We can't change our ways if it's for the best for everyone."

Hearing her voice his earlier thoughts and confirming that she wouldn't change them if it's what helped in the end gave him the confidence he needed. "I'm always afraid something will happen to you, Rose, that you'll get hurt or worse. At the end of a really bad day, I'm afraid you'll come up to me and ask me to take you home. After Krop Tor, though… I finally realised that if there was anyone in the universe I believed in, it was you." The intensity of his eyes magnified and he cupped her face with his unoccupied hand, finally ready to speak the words he'd almost said outside the chippy months ago, what he'd felt since the very beginning. "I love you, Rose Tyler, and I want to spend dressed the rest of our forever proving it to you."

Rose's breath hitched. There were so many times she had hoped to hear those words. She knew, oh how she knew, but it wasn't the same as hearing them. She didn't understand how three simple words could hold so much weight, but they meant the universe to her. With the same intensity, if not the same amount, she proclaimed, "I love you, Doctor, forever."

Eyes continued to burn as he closed the distance between them, directing the same amount of passion in sealing their promise with a kiss.

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><p><em>I was SO nervous about posting this one and didn't understand why until I realised I'd never had them speak what needed to be said.<em>

_Once again, Happy Birthday to xsilverxlightx!_

_~*Eli_


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